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Canucks at Worlds: Aatu Räty scores again, Filip Hronek picks up first point
Aatu Räty during the Vancouver Canucks' 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at the 2024 Young Stars Classic from Penticton, BC.
Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy
Dave Hall
May 18, 2026, 20:15 EDTUpdated: May 18, 2026, 20:12 EDT
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Day 4 of the 2026 IIHF World Championship in Zurich, Switzerland, not only featured all four Vancouver Canucks representatives in action but also saw them face off against one another.
Aatu Räty and Team Finland squared off against Max Sasson and Team USA, while Filip Hronek and Czechia battled Linus Karlsson and Sweden later in the day.

Finland vs. USA

Despite a relatively close shot count (32-28 in favour of the Americans), Finland controlled much of the scoresheet and skated away with a convincing 6-2 victory over Team USA.
The Finns opened the scoring six minutes into the contest before the Americans responded less than two minutes later with the equalizer.
From there, however, Finland took over.
The Finns rattled off four consecutive goals and dictated the pace for most of the afternoon en route to improving to a perfect 3-0-0-0 at the tournament.
Aatu Räty remained in his familiar role, centring Finland’s third line between Eemil Erholtz and Janne Kuokkanen. The Canucks forward continued his strong start to the tournament by recording a point for a third consecutive game. Collecting the puck through the neutral zone, Räty gained the offensive line, cut toward the middle of the ice, and wired a laser wrist shot over the glove for his second goal of the tournament. The tally was one of two shots for Räty, who finished with the goal in 11:34 of ice time.
On the American side, Max Sasson remained between Paul Cotter and Mathieu Olivier on Team USA’s third line. Sasson was held off the scoresheet, finishing with two shots in 15:02 of ice time.
With the victory, Finland now sits tied with host Switzerland atop Group A. Team USA, meanwhile, falls to fifth in the group standings with a 1-0-0-2 record.

Sweden vs. Czechia

After being held pointless through his first two games of the tournament, Filip Hronek hit the scoresheet just minutes into Game 3 for Czechia.
Just over three minutes into the opening period, Hronek gathered the puck at the blue line and fired a quick snapshot toward the net. Jockeying in front, Matej Blümel got a piece with a perfect deflection to get it past Magnus Hellberg for the game’s opening goal.
The early marker sparked a three-goal run for the Czechs before Sweden stormed back late in the opening frame with a pair of goals to cut the deficit to 3-2 after 20 minutes. The teams exchanged goals in the second period before Czechia eventually held on for a 4-3 victory, handing Sweden its second loss in three games.
Linus Karlsson, who continued to skate in Sweden’s top-six forward group, was held off the scoresheet for the first time this tournament. He finished as a minus-1 with one shot in 13:26 of ice time.
As for Hronek, the Canucks defender once again led Czechia in ice time for a third consecutive game with a whopping 25:52. He was the only Czech forward to eclipse the 20-minute mark. He finished with an assist, two shots on goal, a penalty and a plus-2 rating.
With the win, Czechia improves to 2-0-0-1 and now sits second in Group B behind Canada.
Day 5 of the tournament will provide all four Canucks representatives with a day off. Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, and Filip Hronek return to action on Wednesday, while Aatu Räty and Finland will enjoy an extended break until Thursday.
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